Small business has the most to lose

Aug 18, 2008

Small businesses face massive exposure from their habit of not backing up vital data stored on PCs and laptops – because they hold the false belief that their information won't get lost.

A market intelligence survey by BackupSA of 365 small business owners and entrepreneurs in Gauteng showed that a staggering 83% do not regularly back up the data stored on their laptop or PC hard-drive. But more than 78% claimed to be very dependant on this data for either strategic or operational activity in their small business.The company warns that this "fingers crossed" approach is risky in doing business. When a major technical problem strikes or if the laptop is stolen, the consequences are especially great for a small business owner or entrepreneur since data losses could cripple their entire client-facing and strategic activities.Overall, only 12% of the small business owners and individual entrepreneurs maintain a daily backup of their important data files.Time – or rather the lack of it, and "remembering to do it" were the main reasons stated for small business owners not maintaining a regular and reliable backup of their important information.The survey also revealed that the cross section of vital business and personal information at risk of loss included: business and marketing plans; financial, accounting and sales data; client lists, sales proposals, price-lists and email history; whilst some also extended importance to their scanned tax documents, their spreadsheets, post-graduate assignments, dissertations and study notes – representing most data types needed to operate a small business today."What is needed is an easy, affordable, convenient PC and laptop backup process to improve on this trend most visible in small businesses," says Naina Daya, MD of BackupSA.